Back to the Future

Iginla doesn’t score and Kiprusoff saves the day…

Sounds like we were transported back to the days of Darryl Sutter’s coaching… It literally was on many occasions with the relentless checking by everyone and commitment to good ‘ol fashoined elbow grease.  Knowing that Minnesota just played the night before and got creamed by an up and contending Blackhawk team, Calgary took to the body and didn’t let up except for the occasional break here and there.  Phaneuf started the hit parade dishing out a vintage check early in the 1st period and the Flames didn’t get lulled into Minnesota’s neutral zone trap (Agh! Lemaire!) but kept on getting the puck deep into Wild territory and won in typical Darryl Sutter fashion… a throw-the-puck-to-the-net goal that went off Langkow’s skate and a hustle play by Nystrom that lead to a SHG!  All the meanwhile, Mikka looking calm and collected while standing his ground against a late onslaught by the Wild.  It’s not that Iginla was struggling, far from it but it wasn’t on him to carry the team to a victory… I’m sure if we ask him, a hat-trick with a loss vs. no points and a win, he’d take the latter.  Being in Calgary since the summer of 2004, I’ve seen this team with three different coaches and I can honestly say that this years squad is the one that resembles the Cup-run team of 2003-2004, only this year, there is more talent and more strength.

When you replace Donovan, Leopold, McAmmond, Gelinas, Clark and Saprykin with Phaneuf, Moss, Cammalleri, Glencross, Bourque and Bertuzzi, you’ll see that you haven’t lost grit but you’ve simply added talent and consistency to Iginla, Regehr, Conroy and Kipper!  I can say this much after watching tonight’s game at the Dome, many fans weren’t that worried with a 2-1 score because the tenacity and grit and a solid Kipper held the crowd together.  Although there was much outrage when the ref’s called a delay of game penalty to Mark Giordano, after the tying goal was scored… (the Ref’s blew it and knew it! and hoped it wouldn’t affect the game in anyway… this according to the Hot Stove Lounge on the FAN 960 post game show)

Good to see that we don’t need to rely on Iginla to bail us out when we have 3 solid lines that can contribute consistently with a fourth line that keeps opponents on their toes.  Looking forward to watching my first Battle of Alberta at the Dome on Wednesday!

In closing, I’d hate to be a season ticket holder for the Minnesota Wild… that neutral zone trap tempts you to slip into a coma… It almost happened tonight ’til Langkow ignited the crowd!